A Reunion With Family Turns Tragic

French Businessman's Wife and Children Never Arrived

By

Wayne Ma and Esther Fung

March 9, 2014 1:57 p.m. ET

BEIJING—When French businessman Ghyslain Wattrelos landed in Beijing on Saturday afternoon after a flight from Paris, he expected to reunite with his family. Instead, he was met by two French diplomats who informed him that a Malaysia Airlines jetliner that had been carrying his wife and teenage son and daughter was missing.

Mr. Wattrelos had been in the air himself when the Malaysian carrier announced Saturday morning its flight MH370 had disappeared from radar screens the previous night and never landed in Beijing as...